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Colville, Washington |
Sunday, May 11, 2008 |
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Small town girl in the city |
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
Cari Base, a former Miss Colville, dis¬cusses her expanding horizons
BY KIM FRLAN
S-E Staff Reporter
Typically, when young people graduate from high school in a small town, they can’t wait to get to a big city where life is faster-paced and more ex¬citing. Some eventually re¬turn to raise families; some visit regularly, appreciating their roots; and some never look back.
Cari Base is one young per¬son who’s learning to ap¬preciate her hometown. The recent experi¬ences of the 2005 Miss Colville have provided a dramatic con¬trast to her small town up¬bringing. Last week, the Westmont Col¬lege undergrad shared her thoughts about life in San Francisco ver¬sus life back home.
“This semes¬ter, I’m doing an urban im¬mersion in San Fran¬cisco. It’s very different from Colville,” she laughed.
“It’s the first time I’ve been around large populations of other ethnicities inside the U.S.
“The first couple of nights, I couldn’t sleep. I’d just come from Christmas Break in Colville – from hearing coyotes at night. I couldn’t sleep be¬cause of all the light and sound.
Credits interview skills gleaned from ‘Miss Colville’ experience’
“I interviewed at six places for internships. All of the inter¬views were a breeze because of the interview skills I learned from going to state [the Jun¬ior Miss pag¬eant in Pull¬man].
“As an Eng¬lish major, I didn’t ever want to work in a hospital, but I’m doing an internship as a multi-faith chaplain at San Francisco General Hospital. It’s the best public hospital in the country. What sets a public hospital apart is that it is re¬quired to serve the uninsured. The hospital serves illegals, the homeless, the elderly, and the addicted.
She’s also taking classes in urban issues, and volunteering in soup kitchens.
‘We discuss racism, poverty, homelessness, and drug addic¬tion,” Base said. “These are big issues affecting San Francisco. In this class setting, my studies aren’t distant and academic – they’re really close. Issues are becoming real to me. We dis¬cuss immigration problems, and I’m friends’ with undocumented workers. I care about people that are trans-gendered.
Perspective has been easily assimilated in the reality that is urban America..
“When I’m in a room with a 40-year-old who’s addicted to heroin and homeless, and he tells me his heart is 80… I’m 20, white, middle class… there’s nothing I can give to that guy, but I can refuse to disassociate from his problems.
“Coming into San Francisco, I heard the term ‘limousine lib¬eral.’ That means you support a lot of ballot issues like universal healthcare, but you’re still really distant. Chaplaining makes things uncomfortably close and personal. I think I’m no longer seeing myself as ‘the advocate’ and people as ‘the needy.’ We’re all on the same page.
‘…they’re all totally different—like night and day.’
“I’ve been struck with the po¬larity between San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Western Wash¬ington, and Colville. They’re all totally different – like night and day.
Base says that her experi¬ences and work in urban set¬tings has given her a renewed appreciation of rural Colville.
“Colville has a place in me,” she says. “Increasingly, I’ve been able to appreciate it more. I love seeing people at commu¬nity events. I love that every¬thing is walking distance. I love walking into Safeway and seeing 15 people that I know. I love the wilderness. It’s more pro¬tected here. I look forward to reading the local paper – letters to the editor, in particular.
“We all have different experi¬ences. They aren’t better or worse – just different. Opinions grow out of where people have come from.
“Rather than debate with peo¬ple and try to force them to see things as I see them, I’m learn¬ing to meet people on common ground.
“This summer I’m coming home to work at Riverview Or¬chards again. It will be my third summer there. Living life to¬gether, my friends and I can still share a cup of tea, go to the river, and talk about things we care about – spirituality, rural poverty, and domestic violence.
“I’m developing more of a de¬sire to appreciate things as they are. I want to adapt to where I am and celebrate that. When I’m in San Francisco, I just want to be a really good chaplain. When I’m in Colville, I really want to enjoy the people here.
“I’m a letter writer. I love sending letters and getting them back. I love staying connected that way and hearing about people’s lives.
“I wish I had a collection of vignettes from Colville. When I talk about growing up here, a lot of my friends want to come visit.
“Being Miss Colville endeared me to the town in a lot of ways. And I think it endeared the town to me. I met a lot of people that year. What a gift it is to come home and get to see people I know.”
Cari Base
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 April 2008 )
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